


copper combustion

by shadowcat500



Series: Plaguetober 2020 [14]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Plague Doctors, Plaguetober 2020, and he does a trick with said fire magic when she asks him to, kuriko sits and watches rian make the fire until he lights it with magic, they! are! friends!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26875162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowcat500/pseuds/shadowcat500
Summary: Kuriko and Rian make a fire while the others get supplies in town.
Series: Plaguetober 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948417
Kudos: 1





	copper combustion

**Author's Note:**

> 14/10 Repose

The wood is too damp for the fire.

Kuriko knows this inside out, her first rescuer’s lessons burned into her mind like a brand, but still she watches in the fascination that is always reserved for watching someone make a huge mistake as Rian gathers the rain-soaked sticks. The fire’ll take forever to take, and even then will hardly be with the effort. Nimbus specialised in wind last she checked, and she hasn’t seen Rian carrying any fire-lighting tools, so she can only imagine as to how he intends to light it.

She continues to watch cross-legged as Rian tosses around a quarter of the bundle into the stone circle Dahlia put together before she, Celia and Nimbus went into town. 

“How are you gonna light that?”

“Wait and see.” He takes a larger, thicker piece of a broken branch she hadn’t noticed in the middle of the bundle and braces it on the ground, point digging into the canvas they’ll put up for a roof to sleep under later, takes out his knife and begins trying to break it in half. It takes more than a few tries, but he manages it, and starts scraping slices of the dry wood inside the branch off into a pile at the base. “There we are. That’s how you get dry kindling out of wet wood.”

He breaks the spare wood in half again and puts it in what Kuriko assumes is the spare firewood pile, but the dry kindling stays on the canvas till he scrapes it into his hands. Kuriko watches as he brings it close to his mouth, cups his hands like he’s trying to warm them, and breathes out onto the kindling. A second later she sees the beginnings of a flame flicker out into the space above his hands and almost jumps.

“You’re a mage?”

“Huh? No, just a caster. Fire specialty.” He breathes into the kindling again, flames burning higher and stronger, and gently places them into the pile of twigs. He doesn’t seem worried about being burned, even though he isn’t wearing his gloves.

“Isn’t a caster just another term for a mage?”

“Did you not get any casters where you’re from? They _are_ mages, technically, but have too weak a gift to need training. Most are too weak to do any spells beyond what they’re born doing.”

She hadn't heard of casters before: people in her village either had no magical ability or left when they were young to be trained. “Can you show me more? Or can you just do that fire-breathing trick?”

“Hm.” He seems to think it over for a moment, even though the few times Kuriko’s seen a mage doing tricks they never even felt the need to hesitate before showing off. Maybe his skill is so weak he needs to think about whether wasting the energy on something small is worth it. Maybe he just can’t be bothered. Kuriko almost reconsiders asking before he makes his decision and agrees. “Sure, why not. Get over here.”

Kuriko shuffles closer and tucks her knees up to her chest before leaning in slightly. Rian rubs his hands together before taking a small brown coin out of his pocket and breathing out heavily. Kuriko wonders if that’s a necessary part of the set-up, or just him working up the energy to try. 

Rian gently cups his hands together with the coin inside and a second later Kuriko sees a small, blue-green flame pop up between his hands, slowly drifting back and forth before Rian draws his right hand away and balances the flaming coin in one flat palm before extinguishing it in his fist. “There. Happy?” He’s trying to sound tough and unbothered, but there’s a slight upwards tilt in the corners of his mouth that isn’t normally there.

“Yeah. Thanks, that was cool. I haven’t seen a mage do that before. The colour is something to do with the coin, right?”

“Copper burns bluish-green, you’re right. I spent months teaching myself how to burn coins when I was younger. My mother used to chew me out all the time for wasting money till I showed her it didn’t damage the coin too much, as long as I didn’t burn it too hot.”

Kuriko hums and nods. The campfire’s burning properly now, eating up the wetter sticks on top like it’s nothing. Dahlia, Celia and the mage that isn't Rian will be back soon.

**Author's Note:**

> They... friends...
> 
> Guess who has to self-isolate now because some asshole came into school with the Plague
> 
> Check out my [ tumblr](https://existentialcrisisetcetera.tumblr.com/tagged/zach%20writes)!
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated!


End file.
